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Water Company Kittens Adopted; Search on for Sibs
Water Company Kittens Adopted; Search on for Sibs
 Monday
August 21, 2006
by Mary Childress
Daily Mail staff
These two kittens, found in a company truck at West Virginia American
Water Co., have a new home. They are being adopted by a family with
two daughters.Pepper and Sam I Am have found a home.
Now if only their littermates could be found.
The two little kittens that were found in a West Virginia American
Water Co. truck will be going to Jackson County to be the pets of
two little girls ages 6 and 3 years old.
The future "mother" of the twosome, Dena Smith, and her
daughters had recently lost their cat so these two kittens will
become part of their household at just the right time.
"I'm so happy with this outcome," said Deborah Herndon,
president of the company. "These young children sound like
they're just the right age to love them and care for them."
The kittens were the subject of a story last week as Herndon tried
to find them a home.
Herndon's assistant, Vanessa Turner, spent part of her workday
Wednesday answering the phone. "We had plenty of inquiries
about the kittens, about eight to 10 calls," Herndon said.
"We had one woman who called and said she had 15 cats and
one more would be no problem," she said. "They could stay
out in the barn and help with the mouse problem, she told us.
"Another call was from a woman who wanted to give the kittens
to her daughter for a birthday present, and we even got one call
from a board member who was interested," Herndon said.
"I just felt choosing the Smith family was the best outcome
for the two kittens," she said. "They will get to stay
together and have a wonderful home."
Herndon admitted to being a little sad to see them go, but she
won't turn them over for a few weeks.
"I want to make sure they have their last vaccinations and
are spayed and neutered before going to their new home," she
said. "I want them to be loved and as well cared for as they
can be, and I think these two little girls are just the right fit."
Which leaves a new adoption issue to be solved.
The two abandoned kittens apparently have two siblings that still
need to be found.
"My husband, Steve Samples, found the mother cat and her kittens
several weeks ago," said Teresa Samples, the wife of a water
company employee. "He's a foreman and was getting off a 12-hour
shift when he heard the mother.
"She had made a place to give birth to these four in a rusted-out
crevice between the cab and the dump truck," she said. "When
he found them, the little ones didn't even have their eyes open."
Samples said her husband raided the refrigerator in the company's
cafeteria for something the mother could eat.
"He found a tuna sandwich and added the ham from the sandwich
I had made him," she said. "He fed the mother cat, then
put out a pan of water."
For the next two weeks, Teresa Samples, her husband and her brother,
Bob Love, a mechanic with the company, provided food and water for
the mother and her babies. They even bought kitten milk for the
little ones.
Referring to her family as a water company family, Teresa said
Steve has been an employee there for about 29 years, while her brother
has been there almost 15 years. She said her father-in-law worked
for the company for 42 years.
"We put two coolers filled with ice on the truck to try and
keep them cool when it was so hot a few weeks ago," she said.
"I also got some sheepskin material and made them a soft bed.
"We were going back every night and putting out fresh food
and water," she said. "When Steve worked the night shift,
he would look after them, and then when my brother came to work
the next day, he'd take care of them."
The mother cat and her kittens stayed in the dump truck for about
two weeks until the mother apparently decided to move them.
"When we couldn't find them, I panicked," said Samples.
"I thought they were gone for good. But we found them under
a utility box in a smaller company truck."
The mother moved them again to a service truck, and that's where
company employee Tim Huffman spotted two of them and brought them
into the company's offices.
"When we couldn't find them, we just thought that the mother
took them all away," she said. "My husband said that the
mother is a feral cat and has been spotted around here for about
two years.
"There were two orange and white kittens, one gray tabby and
that soft grey-and-white kitten that just won my heart," she
said. "We haven't seen them for about 10 days. We're just hoping
the mother has taken care of the two that were left."
writer Mary Childress
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